'Bubba Nosferatu' Could Become 'Bubba Roswell,' Paul Giamatti Reveals

Elvis versus aliens. If that doesn't sound awesome to you, then you and I are not living on the same planet. Though "Bubba Ho-Tep" director Don Coscarelli and actor Paul Giamatti have long been planning on putting rock icon Elvis Presley up against a pack of blood-thirsty vampires in "Bubba Nosferatu," it now appears that their scheme has gotten bigger -- franchise-sized big, in fact, including a detour to New Mexico. "Oh, we have all kinds of plans for a 'Bubba' franchise," Giamatti told MTV News at the Sundance Film Festival, appearing alongside Coscarelli to support their new movie "John Dies at the End." "We've been thinking 'Bubba Roswell,' is what we've been thinking." As implied by the title, "Bubba Roswell" would be "Elvis versus aliens," according to Coscarelli. I repeat: who could possibly say no to that? Well... perhaps a few someones. Despite a rabid fan following and the support of an actor of Giamatti's caliber, the "Bubba" movies have been sidelined, partly due to the departure of leading man Bruce Campbell, and partly due to the passing of too much time. "A key ingredient declined to participate in the film: it was Bruce Campbell, who as far as I was told decided he wanted to work on other projects and didn't want to do it," Coscarelli said of losing his Elvis. "That was pretty much the end of it. Then we talked to another terrific actor in Ron Perlman, who was interested, but at that time, a couple of years had gone by, and it was very difficult to get the funding together." People of Hollywood, if none of you are interested in funding an "Elvis versus aliens" movie, we have a problem. Just putting that out there. What do you think of the "Bubba Roswell" idea? Tell us in the comments section and on Twitter! Follow MTV Movies Blog editor Josh Wigler on Twitter as well!

Casting Company company directors Named for 10 Aircraft aircraft pilots

Kari Lizer has received two aircraft aircraft pilots acquired, one from ABC then one from NBC. It is not pilot season without one or more "Untitled Kari Lizer Project"!She'll be casting the comedy "Lady Pals" for NBC of a friendship between two women that endures despite their unique lots around. The project shoots in mid March. This season's "Untitled Kari Lizer Project" is certainly an ABC comedy of a no-nonsense career lady who meets her finest challenge when she's release and forced to become full-time mother to her two teens. The project shoots noisy . April.Dramas with supernatural elements are simply slightly less hot this year, but we've a few days to go to. However, it's searching like the vampire trend is fortunately drawing with a close.Patrick J. Hurry will cast "666 Park Avenue," a drama for ABC in regards to the managers from the historic apartment building in NY who begin to experience supernatural phenomena. The project shoots in mid March in NY. Junie Lowry-Manley and Libby Goldstein will cast the NBC drama "Evening time Sun" about FBI agents that are shipped to research disappearance in the residents from the remote Alaskan village. A shoot date is not set.Vampires of the underworld from the underworld may not be in but lady spies unquestionably are. Fox's drama "The Resource" will probably be cast by Lisa Beach and Sarah Katzman. The project shoots in March which is of a female CIA agent working out in the NY office who partcipates in covert methods. Ron Milikan is casting the "Untitled Karyn Usher Project," a drama for Fox in regards to the teenage daughter from the wiped out CIA operative who's employed for the agency. Here's another period drama that sounds intriguing. Anything including NY inside the late 1800s needs to be difficult to ruin. Linda Lowy is casting "Gilded Lillys" for ABC in regards to the grand opening from the luxury hotel in NY inside the late 1800s, put together by K.J. Steinberg. The project shoots in mid March. Julie Tucker and Ross Meyerson are casting the CBS drama "Baby Large Shot" of a lawyer getting a blue-collar background who uses her street inteligence to flourish at her white-colored-shoe lawyer. A shoot date is not set.After which you'll find more comedies, such as the "Untitled Nick Stoller Project " for CBS of a guy who eventually ends up requiring to function within the cubicle close to the girl who recently left him. Jeanne McCarthy will cast the project, that has not set a shoot date.Dava Waite Peaslee is casting "Friday Evening Dinner" for NBC, a comedy of a Jewish family which get together to kvetch over Shabbat. No shoot date remains set.

ITV Galleries America ink cope with Howley

ITV Galleries America has inked an initial-look development cope with unscripted professional producer Simon Howley. Howley and the shingle, Kowalski, allow us projects for ABC, CBS, the CW, ESPN, MSNBC, A&E, National Geographic, Spike, Lifetime and Bravo within the U.S. and also the BBC, Five, Sky and C4 within the U.K. Formerly, with Firefly/Dragonfly, he professional created such series as "Existence or Dying" for Discovery and "Sailing Gold" for NatGeo. "Simon includes a great history of making and creating programming accepted by both U.K. and U.S. tv stations," ITV Galleries America senior creative strategy veep Bruce Robertson stated. Contact Jon Weisman at jon.weisman@variety.com

IFC in talks to acquire 'Liberal Arts'

'Liberal Arts'IFC Films is in final negotiations to acquire Josh Radnor's "Liberal Arts," the writer-director-producer's follow-up to "Happythankyoumoreplease." Radnor ("How I Met Your Mother") stars as a newly-single man who is invited back to his alma mater, where he falls for a young 19-year-old college student (Elizabeth Olsen) and is faced with the powerful attraction that springs up between them. Jesse Hara produced through Tom Sawyer Entertainment, the production company he runs with Rachel Miller. BCDF Pictures financed the film, which was produced by Brice Dal Farra, Claude Dal Farra and Lauren Munsch. The Gersh Agency negotiated the deal on behalf of the filmmakers. More to come... Contact Jeff Sneider at jeff.sneider@variety.com

Keith Urban Returning To Stage After Vocal Surgery

First Published: January 12, 2012 3:38 PM EST Credit: Getty Images NASHVILLE, Tenn. -- Caption Keith Urban performs at the 49th Annual ASCAP Country Music Awards at the Gaylord Opryland Resort in Nashville, Tenn., on November 6, 2011Keith Urban will return to the stage on Feb. 3 at the Grand Ole Opry following vocal surgery. The country superstar had a polyp removed from a vocal cord at Vanderbilt University Medical Center late last year and has been on vocal rest. His appearance at The Ryman Auditorium next month will be his first public performance since he recorded a song for the CMA Country Christmas television special in mid-November. He was forced to postpone his All For The Hall benefit concert for the Country Music Hall of Fame that was originally scheduled for Jan. 18. He also rescheduled the tail end of his 2011 concert tour for later this year. The Grand Ole Opry also announced Urban will perform in March. __ Online: http://www.keithurban.net Copyright 2012 by The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

Jill Zarin May Move West for Fox, The Beverly Jillbillies

Jill Zarin Jill Zarin may have been fired after starring in four seasons of The Real Housewives of NY City, but she could be setting her sights on another reality show on the West Coast. The sometimes-redhead is reportedly in talks with Fox to star in her own show, tentatively titled The Beverly Jillbillies, according to The Hollywood Reporter. Neither the show's producers nor the network would confirm, but Zarin has said she's looking for a home in Los Angeles. Bethenny Frankel on Jill Zarin's Real Housewives' firing: "She's a survivor" In September, Zarin, 48, was one of four NY cast members -- including Alex McCord, Kelly Bensimon and Cindy Barshop -- fired before Housewives returned for its fifth season. At Bravo's winter previews in early January, fellow ex-cast member and former Zarin BFF Bethenny Frankel told reporters that "[Jill] is a survivor. She's well-to-do. She's not worried about finding a job. I'm sure probably [the firing] just stings a little bit, I'm sure it's difficult. And it's difficult to watch what's gone on with me and she handles it the way she knows how." Bravo axes four Housewives of NY City cast members Frankel, 41, has her own spin-off reality show, Bethenny Ever After, which will begin its third season on Monday, Feb. 20 at 9/8c on Bravo. Would you watch The Beverly Jillbillies?

Adele notches 16th week at No. 1

Maintaining its torrid pace, Adele's "21" dangles onto its No. 1 slot around the U.S. album chart for any 16th non-consecutive week. In the 46th chart week, the British singer's Columbia set offered 144,000 copies, based on Nielsen SoundScan data for that week ending Jan. 8. It had been the only real title to maneuver a lot more than 100,000 models a week ago. If "21" holds the apex in a few days - a likely proposition among a skinny The month of january release schedule -- it will likely be the very first album to log 16 days at No. 1 because the blockbuster soundtrack for "Titanic" achieved that task in 1998. Barring an enormous sales slump, the gathering Up for six Grammys the following month -- should top the six million sales plateau on next week's chart. The week's only top ten debut - actually, the only real album to bow within the top 50 - is Oklahoma band SafetySuit's "These Occasions," (Universal Republic), which makes its way into at No. 7 having a 26,000-unit tally. Group's sophomore album was released being an iTunes exclusive. Week's some of the best 10 albums all drenched percentage declines with flagging publish-holiday sales. Ruling within the top 5 are Drake's "Be MindfulInch (No. 2, 42,000 offered, off 41%), the Black Keys' "El Camino" (No. 3, 42,000, lower 8%), Youthful Jeezy's "TM 103: Hustlerz Ambition" (No. 4, 36,000, off 47%) and Coldplay's "Mylo Xyloto" (No. 5, 28,000, lower 37%). Finishing the very best 10 are Rihanna's "Talk That Talk" (No. 6, 27,000, off 35%), LMFAO's "Sorry For Party Rocking" (No. 8, 25,000, lower 38%), the "Now 40" compilation (No. 9, 24,000, lower 42%) and Florence & the Machine's "Ceremonials" (No. 10, 24,000, lower 50%). New sets by Snow Patrol, the David Crowder Band and also the Little Willies are some of the top chart candidates for in a few days. Contact the range newsroom at news@variety.com

Newly "Mellow" Charlie Sheen Preps His FX Series Anger Management

Charlie Sheen As he plots a return to primetime via FX's upcoming sitcom Anger Management, Charlie Sheen says he is putting last spring's "tiger blood"-fueled antics behind him."I'm a lot more mellow and focused and much more rooted in reality," Sheen told reporters Sunday night at Pasadena's Castle Green. Sheen took his image rehabilitation tour to the nation's TV critics, who were gathered at a party celebrating Fox's and FX's upcoming series. But once Sheen arrived, reporters mobbed him.Sheen jokingly calls his public meltdown last spring his "winning odyssey" but stands by his contention that he was unhappy with his involvement on Two and a Half Men.What happened? The actor says his behavior was triggered by "what was going on for all of those years on the set, and it was also about the pressure cooking up 30 years in the business, and just finally wanting to say all the things I wanted to say." He adds: "I said them all at once and it created a tsunami of bizarre proportions."Despite several accounts that Sheen's substance use was impacting his performance on Men - leading to his dismissal - Sheen says he believes that he was "right about what they [Men producer Warner Bros. TV] had done that was completely wrong vs. what I had done... in terms of who was in breach. That's why I pushed it so hard because I knew there was victory at the end."Nonetheless, when asked whether he harbored any regrets from last year, Sheen says, "I would have been a little less vocal about the people I worked with." (Sheen famously blasted Men exec producer Chuck Lorre, as well as CBS and Warner Bros., leading to his dismissal.)Exclusive: Chuck Lorre Talks Two and a Half Men's Turnaround and His "Painful" YearSheen's exit from Men led to several unusual moves - including a nationwide stage show that got off to a bumpy start. "It was a real [lesson] of sticking to what you know," Sheen says of what he learned from that experience. Since then, he's gone back to acting, having just wrapped the Roman Coppola movie A Glimpse Inside the Mind of Charles Swan III, for which Sheen says he was paid $1,700 a week - "and I was never happier," he says. "It ain't about the money."Sheen renewed his gripe that he felt underutilized on Two and a Half Men and that it didn't solicit his opinions on the show - but as an executive producer and profit participant in Anger Management, he promises to be very involved. "Every time I see [Anger Management executive producer Bruce Helford], it's like a hundred warm hugs," Sheen says. "To have my input welcomed is an alien concept to me."Adds Helford: "Whenever I do a show with a star, then we partner. We're doing this together. Anything I do I run by Charlie and we talk about it. He's got great ideas and we're using those."The show itself shares a title with the movie Anger Management, but little else. Sheen will play a former baseball player with anger issues who winds up as an unconventional anger management therapist. Sheen's character (named Charlie, natch) juggles his work and personal life - as he has an ex-wife, a 13-year-old daughter and his own therapist.The character also works with two therapy groups: A private one, and one at a women's prison (that was Sheen's idea). "This is a show about how all of this affects Charlie's life," Helford says. "It's half workplace and half personal life but there's an organic flow back and forth... His life is way more screwed up than most of his patients."Helford says he's looking to give Anger Management a "mature tone" similar to Roseanne (where he once worked) and the shows of famed All in the Family producer Norman Lear. "We have the license to do it," he says.Sheen and Helford have already hired a writing staff for the show, and now plan to start casting next week. Two of the lead roles call for women in their late 30s or early 40s, "and those are going to be actresses that you know, I'm sure," Helford says.Lionsgate (the studio behind the show) and its Debmar-Mercury distribution arm will initially produce 10 episodes of Anger Management. If that initial order hits a certain ratings threshold, then an order by FX for another 90 episodes immediately kicks in.Under a heightened production schedule, more than one episode would be taped a week. "To do that kind of schedule, you need someone who knows their stuff, who has done this before," Helford says. "And Charlie is really sharp and really fast."Although Management will be shot with multiple cameras and audience laughs, the show won't be taped in front of a studio audience. An audience will screen each episode later and their laughter taped to be used in the telecast.As for his former Two and a Half Men stomping grounds, Sheen calls the new version (now starring Ashton Kutcher) a "whole new show." "I think parts of it are funny," he says. "I don't watch it that much, but from what I watched I thought it was a pretty good. [But] it's a different show."Subscribe to TV Guide Magazine now!

J.J. Abrams Talks Casting Incredible Benedict Cumberbatch In The Exorcist Follow-up

First Launched: The month of the month of january 8, 2012 3:29 PM EST Credit: Getty Images Caption J.J. Abrams, Benedict CumberbatchLOS ANGELES, Calif. -- No matter the reviews, J.J. Abrams wont make certain Sherlock actor Benedict Cumberbatch is especially set to see Star Treks villain inside the second film inside the intergalactic series, which begins shooting inside a couple of days, but he was ready to discuss what introduced the British actor for the fold. Hes a genius, J.J. told AccessHollywood.com on Sunday, carrying out a panel within the Television Experts Association Winter Session in Pasadena, for his new show on FOX, Alcatraz. Hes just an incredible actor, J.J. ongoing of Benedict. Honestly, if youve seen the task in Sherlock, hes got incredible capabilities. He did amazing be employed in Frankenstein [round the London stage]. Hes brilliant. I'm speaking about, you are trying to cast individuals who're great. We have got lucky. J.J. confirmed they met with plenty of stars for your The Exorcist follow-up, but Benedict was the very best fit. I merely loved his work and thought he was well suited for that which you needed, and then we were very lucky, J.J. told Access. The second The Exorcist under J.J. begins shooting inside a couple of days, but J.J. mentioned hell have time to fulfill his Executive Producer duties in Alcatraz, which reunites him with Lost actor Jorge Garcia. Beginning shooting The Exorcist on Thursday, therefore i gotta go, he jeered. What Ive been trying to complete is help, whether it is see the scripts, giving notes, giving suggestions on cuts, controlling doing the theme music, that kind of stuff, getting fun using the show and kind of help get it up running. Alcatraz follows a trio considering the reappearance of Alcatrazs renowned crooks and pads, fifty years after they disappeared. The show might have some resolution in each episode, but furthermore overriding questions. I cant help but liking shows by having an ongoing mythology, J.J. told reporters following a panel. Its an unusual factor in my opinion to appear like the situation is ended completely, so hopefully, Alcatraz enables products to exist over [the] lengthy-term where you can week to week specific puzzle that needs to be solved. Alcatrazs two-hour premiere starts at 8/7c around the month of the month of january 16 on FOX. Copyright 2012 by NBC Universal, Corporation. All rights reserved. These elements is probably not launched, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

News Corp. opposes U.K. media rules change

LONDON -- News Corp. has opposed necessitates the U.K. government to produce new limits on media possession, which is thinking that the bigger choice of voices across broadcasting, print an online-based are situated lately. Within the submission to British communications regulator Ofcom's summary of media plurality, the Rupert Murdoch-introduced org mentioned it may be wrong to "set absolute limits on news business.Inch "Areas works as well as the trend remains towards greater plurality rather than less plurality," News Corp. observed. Nevertheless the conglom, still spinning within the phone hacking and police corruption ripoffs at its now defunct U.K. tabloid what is the news around the world came concentrate on the energy in the BBC inside the U.K. media landscape. It known towards the BBC "since the greatest provider, by any measure, of news on tv, inside the radio as well as on the internetInch in Blighty. Which "therefore, it's tough to suppose any mix-media business test that could be adopted would not be triggered with the BBC's news provision." There's been calls from pols and media campaigners to tighten U.K. media possession rules carrying out a phone-hacking row as well as the details in regards to the Murdochs' partners to Britain's political elite. In the separate submission for the media plurality review, BSkyB, that's controlled by News Corp., also advised Ofcom to include the BBC in any assessment of media plurality. "There is no logical cause for excluding the BBC in any assessment of media plurality on one basis almost every other news and current matters provider," it mentioned. The Daily Mail, a fierce critic in the pubcaster, known for any cap restricting the amount of U.K. news provision anybody org may have, but mentioned the BBC needs to be excluded using this because of its "special status" because of its public service activities. Contact the number newsroom at news@variety.com

'The Iron Lady': Margaret Thatcher Family Rejected a Screening Invite

'The Iron Lady' has stirred debate, this despite (almost) universal praise for Meryl Streep's portrayal of former Uk pm Margaret Thatcher. In November, THR reported that former co-employees and pals of Thatcher were unhappy with Streep's performance, stating it absolutely was unflattering. But what about Thatcher's family people -- is it unhappy with Meryl's acting, too? According to director Phyllida Lloyd, maybe: the Thatchers were requested an excellent screening in the film, but switched it lower. "They were the initial people we requested to look for the finished film," Lloyd told BBC Radio 4. "They didn't occupy our offer ... so we are not necessarily sure when they've seen it or else.In . Rejecting the invite doesn't imply your family has hopped round the anti-'Iron Lady' bandwagon, so you have to take good news getting a little suspicion. Regardless, the detractors who've gone public aren't preventing Streep from receiving lots of early Oscar buzz. The Iron Lady' is going in theaters now, that will help you judge Meryl's performance by yourself. [via Protector and BBC Radio 4] Follow Moviefone on Twitter Like Moviefone on Facebook